Content display monitoring by a processing system

ABSTRACT

The invention can enable monitoring of the display of content by a computer system. Moreover, the invention can enable monitoring of the displayed content to produce monitoring information from which conclusions may be deduced regarding the observation of the displayed content by an observer. The invention can also enable monitoring of the display at a content display site of content that is provided by a content provider site over a network to the content display site. Additionally, the invention can enable the expeditious provision of updated and/or tailored content over a network from a content provider site to a content display site so that the content provider&#39;s current and appropriately tailored content is always displayed at the content display site. Aspects of the invention related to transfer of content over a network are generally applicable to any type of network. However, it is contemplated that the invention can be particularly useful with a computer network, including private computer networks (e.g., America Online™) and public computer networks (e.g., the Internet). In particular, the invention can be advantageously used with computer networks or portions of computer networks over which video and/or audio content are transferred from one network site to another network site for observation, such as the World Wide Web portion of the Internet.

This is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/707,279, filedSep. 3, 1996 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,108,637.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to monitoring the display of content by acomputer system and observation of the content.

The invention also relates to monitoring the display and observation ata content display site of content that is provided by a content providersite over a network to the content display site. The invention furtherrelates to the provision of updated and/or tailored content from acontent provider site to a content display site so that the contentprovider's current content is always displayed at the content displaysite.

2. Related Art

A large amount of human activity consists of the dissemination ofinformation by information providers (content providers) to informationconsumers (observers). Recently, computer networks have become a verypopular mechanism for accomplishing information dissemination. The useof computer networks for information dissemination has necessitated orenabled new techniques to accomplish particular functions related to thedissemination of information.

For example, information providers of all types have an interest inknowing the extent and nature of observation of the information thatthey disseminate. Information providers that disseminate informationover computer networks also have this interest. However, the use ofnetworked computers for information dissemination can make it difficultto ascertain who is observing the disseminated information and how,since information can be accessed rapidly from a remote location by anyof a large number of possible observers whose identity is often notpredictable beforehand, and since control over the display of theinformation once disseminated may not be possible, practical ordesirable.

Among information providers, advertisers have particular interest inknowing how and to what extent their advertisements are displayed and/orobserved, since such knowledge can be a key element in evaluating theeffectiveness of their advertising and can also be the basis for paymentfor advertising. Mechanisms for obtaining such information have beendeveloped for advertisements disseminated in conventional media, e.g.,audiovisual media such as television and radio, and print media such asmagazines and newspapers. For example, the well-known Nielsen televisionratings enable advertisers to gauge the number of people that likelywatched advertisements during a particular television program. Asadvertising over a computer network becomes more common, the importanceof developing mechanisms for enabling advertisers to monitor the displayand observation of their advertisements disseminated over a computernetwork increases.

Previous efforts to monitor the display of advertising (or othercontent) disseminated over a computer network have been inadequate for avariety of reasons, including the limited scope of the monitoringinformation obtained, the ambiguous nature of the monitoringinformation, the incompleteness of the monitoring information, and thesusceptibility of the monitoring information to manipulation. Review ofsome of the techniques that have previously been used to acquiremonitoring information regarding the display of content (e.g.,advertising) disseminated over a particular computer network—the WorldWide Web portion of the Internet computer network—will illustrate thedeficiencies of existing techniques for monitoring the display ofcontent disseminated over a computer network.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are simplified diagrams of a network illustratingoperation of a previous system for monitoring requests for content overthe World Wide Web. In FIGS. 1A and 1B, a content provider site 101(which can be embodied by, for example, a server computer) cancommunicate with a content display site 102 (which can be embodied by,for example, a client computer) over the network communication line 103.The server computer at the content provider site 101 can store contentcolloquially referred to as a “Web page.” The client computer at thecontent display site 102 executes a software program, called a browser,that enables selection and display of a variety of Web pages stored atdifferent content provider sites. When an observer at the contentdisplay site 102 wishes to view a particular Web page, the observercauses the client computer at the content display site 102 to send arequest to the appropriate server computer, e.g., the server computer atthe content provider site 101, as shown in FIG. 1A. The server computersat content provider sites all include a software program (in the currentimplementation of the World Wide Web, this is an http daemon) thatwatches for such incoming communications. Upon receipt of the request,the server computer at the content provider site 101 transfers a filerepresenting the Web page (which, in the current implementation of theWorld Wide Web, is an html file) to the client computer at the contentdisplay site 102, as shown in FIG. 1B. This file can itself referenceother files (that may be stored on the server computer at the contentprovider site 101 and/or on other server computers) that are alsotransferred to the content display site 102. The browser can use thetransferred files to generate a display of the Web page on the clientcomputer at the content display site 102. The http daemon, in additionto initiating the transfer of the appropriate file or files to thecontent display site 102, also makes a record of requests for files fromthe server computer on which the daemon resides. The record of suchrequests is stored on the server computer at the content provider site101 in a file 104 that is often referred to as a “log file.”

The exact structure and content of log files can vary somewhat fromserver computer to server computer. However, generally, log filesinclude a list of transactions that each represent a single filerequest. Each transaction includes multiple fields, each of which areused to store a predefined type of information about the file request.One of the fields can be used to store an identification of the filerequested. Additional fields can be used to store the IP (InternetProtocol) address of the client computer that requested the particularfile, the type of browser that requested the file, a time stamp for therequest (i.e., the date and time that the request was received by theserver computer), the amount of time required to transfer the requestedfile to the client computer, and the size of the file transferred. Otherinformation about file requests can also be stored in a log file.

Previous methods for monitoring the display of content distributed overthe World Wide Web have used the information stored in the log file. Forexample, one previous method has consisted of simply determining thenumber of transactions in the log file and counting each as a “hit” on aWeb page, i.e., a request for a Web page. The number of hits is deemedto approximate the number of times that the Web page has been viewedand, therefore, the degree of exposure of the content of the Web page toinformation consumers.

There are a number of problems with this approach however. For example,as indicated above, a request for a Web page may cause, in addition tothe request for an initial html file, requests for other files that arenecessary to generate the Web page. If these other files reside on thesame server computer as the initial html file, additional transactionsare recorded in the log file. Thus, a request for a single Web page cancause multiple transactions to be recorded in the log file. As can beappreciated, then, the number of times that a Web page is transferred toa content display site can be far less than the number of transactionsrecorded in the log file. Moreover, without further analysis, there isno way to accurately predict the relationship between the number oftransactions in the log file and the number of times that a Web page hasbeen transferred to the content display site. Such inaccuracy can bevery important to, for example, advertisers—whose cost of advertising isoften proportional to the measured exposure of the advertising—since themeasured exposure of their advertising (and, thus, its cost) may bebased upon the number of hits on a Web page containing theiradvertisement.

A method to overcome this problem has been used. By analyzing thecontents of the log file to determine which file was requested in eachtransaction, it may be possible to differentiate transactions in whichthe initial html file needed to generate a Web page is requested fromtransactions in which the requested file is one which is itselfrequested by another file, thus enabling “redundant” transactions to beidentified and eliminated from the hit count. While such an approach canincrease the accuracy of counting Web page hits, it still suffers fromseveral problems.

For example, log file analysis may result in some undercounting of Webpage hits, apart from any overcounting. This is because, oncetransferred to a client computer at a content display site, the filesnecessary to generate a Web page can be stored (“cached”) on that clientcomputer, thus enabling an observer at the content display site to viewthe Web page again without causing the client computer to make anotherrequest to the content provider server computer from which the Web pagewas initially retrieved. Consequently, the observer can view the Webpage without causing transactions to be added to the log file, resultingin undercounting of the number of Web page hits.

Additionally, log files are subject to manipulation, either directly orindirectly. For example, an unscrupulous content provider could directlymanipulate the log file by retrieving and editing the log file to addphony transactions, thus artificially increasing the number of Web pagehits and making the Web page appear to be more popular than it reallyis. This problem can be ameliorated by causing the log files to betransferred periodically at predetermined times (e.g., each night at12:00 midnight) from the server computer at the content provider site toa neutral network site; however, the log file can still be manipulatedduring the time between transfers.

A log file might be manipulated indirectly, for example, by programmingone or more computers to continually request a Web page, therebygenerating a large number of hits on that Web page. While the log filewould contain transactions corresponding to actual file requestsassociated with the Web page, these requests would be artificialrequests that would almost certainly not result in a display of the Webpage, and certainly not in the observation of the Web page. Moreover,checking the contents of the log file for an unusually high number ofrequests from a particular IP address (i.e., client computer) may notenable such manipulation to be detected, since a large number ofrequests may legitimately come from a client computer that serves manyusers (for example, the proprietary network America Online™ has ahandful of computers that are used by many users of that network to makeconnection to the Internet and World Wide Web).

It may be possible to identify the real origin of requests for contentusing “cookies.” A cookie enables assignment of a unique identifier toeach computer from which requests really emanate by transferring theidentifier to that computer with content transferred to that computer.Future requests for content carry this identifier with them. Theidentifier can be used, in particular, to aid in identification ofindirect log file manipulation, as described above, and, more generally,to enable more robust log file analysis.

Notwithstanding such enhancement, cookies do not overcome a fundamentalproblem with the use and analysis of log files to ascertain informationregarding the display of content provided over the World Wide Web. Thatis, as highlighted by the overcounting problem associated with theabove-described artifice and the undercounting problem associated withcaching of content at the content display site, log files only storeinformation about file requests. A log file does not even indicatewhether the requested file was actually transferred to the requestingclient computer (though, typically, such file transfer would occur). Nordoes a log file include any information about how the file was used oncetransferred to the requesting client computer. In particular, log filesdo not provide any information regarding whether the content representedby the requested file is actually displayed by the client computer atthe content display site, much less information from which conclusionscan be deduced regarding whether—and if so, how—the content was observedby an observer. These limitations associated with the content of a logfile cannot be overcome by a monitoring approach based on log fileanalysis. Moreover, log file analysis is calculation intensive,requiring hours in some instances to extract the desired informationfrom the log file.

Another method of monitoring the display of content disseminated overthe World Wide Web uses an approach similar to that of the Nielsenratings system used in monitoring television viewing. In this method,monitoring software is added to the browser implemented on the clientcomputers of a selected number of defined observers (e.g., families) toenable acquisition of data regarding advertising exposure on thosecomputers. This information is then used to project patterns over thegeneral population.

However, this approach also has several disadvantages. First, only alimited amount of data is collected, i.e., data is only obtainedregarding a small number of information consumers. As with any pollingmethod, there is no guarantee that the data acquired can be extrapolatedto the general population, even if the observers selected for monitoringare chosen carefully and according to accepted sampling practices.Second, as the size of the World Wide Web (or other computer network forwhich this method is used) grows, i.e., as the number of contentprovider sites increases, the number of monitored observers necessary toensure accurate representation of the usage of all content providersites must increase, since otherwise there may be few or no observerinteractions with some content provider sites upon which to baseprojections. It may not be possible to find an adequate number ofappropriate observers to participate in the monitoring process,particularly given concerns with the attendant intrusion into theprivacy of the selected observers. Third, installation of the monitoringsoftware on a client computer to be compatible with a browser presents anumber of problems. Such installation requires active participation byobservers; since observers typically do not reap benefit from operationof the monitoring software, they may be reluctant to expend the effortto effect installation. The monitoring software must continually berevised to be compatible with new browsers and new versions of oldbrowsers. To enable monitoring of a large number of client computers,the software must be tested for compatibility with a wide variety ofcomputing environments. And, as currently implemented, such monitoringsoftware is also dependent upon the computing platform used, making itnecessary to revise the monitoring software for use with new computingplatforms or risk skewing the demographics of the sample users.

In addition to desiring information regarding the display andobservation of the content that they provide, content providers alsooften desire to provide content to a content display site that isparticularly tailored for observation (e.g., according to variousdemographic characteristics of an expected observer) at that contentdisplay site. For example, text content should be expressed in alanguage that the observer can understand. If appropriate for thecontent, it is desirable to tailor the content according to, forexample, the age, sex or occupation of the observer.

Such tailoring of content has previously been enabled by modifying thehttp daemon on a computer at the content provider site to cause aparticular version of a set of content to be transferred to a requestingcontent display site based upon the IP address of that content displaysite. While such tailoring of content is useful, it is desirable to beable to tailor the presentation of content in additional ways notenabled by this approach.

Content providers also often desire to provide their content with thecontent of other content providers. For example, it is a common practicefor content providers (referred to here as “primary content providers”)on the World Wide Web to include advertisements from other entities(referred to here as “secondary content providers”) as part of thecontent provider's Web page. In such situations, it is desirable for thesecondary content provider to be able to easily update and/orappropriately tailor (e.g., according to characteristics of therequester) the content that they supply to the primary content provider.This could be accomplished by causing the primary content provider siteto contact the secondary content provider site—each time that theprimary content provider receives a request for content that includesthe secondary content—to retrieve the secondary content (thus ensuringthat updated, appropriately tailored secondary content is used) or checkwhether updated or tailored secondary content is available (if so, thecontent is retrieved). (This method could also be modified so thatcontent retrieval or a check for updated and/or tailored content is onlyperformed according to a predetermined schedule.) However, both theprimary content provider and the secondary content provider may not wanttheir systems burdened with the extra computational capacity required tohandle the multitude of requests that would be needed to effect thisoperation. Alternatively, the primary content provider could collect andstore the updated and tailored content from the secondary contentproviders at the primary content provider site. However, the burdenassociated with collecting and managing the content from secondarycontent providers may be more than the primary content provider wants toshoulder.

One way that this functionality can be achieved without creating anundesirable burden on the primary or secondary content providing systemsis by providing a secondary content storage site that can continuallystore the most recent content provided by a secondary content provider,as well as different sets of content tailored for particular situations(e.g., display by particular observers or at particular times). FIGS. 2Athrough 2D are simplified diagrams of a network illustrating theoperation of such a system. In FIG. 2A, a content display site 202 makesa request over the network communication line 203 to the primary contentprovider site 201 for content that includes the secondary content. InFIG. 2B, the primary content provider site 201 transfers the file orfiles stored at the primary content provider site 201 that are necessaryto generate a display of the primary content. These files includeappropriate reference to a file or files stored at a secondary contentstorage site 204 that includes the most updated and/or appropriatelytailored secondary content for display with the primary content. Asshown in FIG. 2C, this reference causes the content display site 202 torequest the secondary content from the secondary content storage site204. In FIG. 2D, the secondary content is transferred from the secondarycontent storage site 204 to the content display site 202 for display atthe content display site 202.

However, while this system can relieve the primary content provider ofthe burden of managing the acquisition, storage and provision ofsecondary content (a burden that can become rather onerous when manysecondary content providers are providing content to the primary contentprovider), the system has a characteristic that can make it undesirablefor many content providers. The secondary content storage site not onlymanages the secondary content, it also provides the secondary contentwhen requests for primary content are made to the primary contentprovider. Moreover, the secondary content is frequently content, such asgraphics files used to generate visual images (which frequently dominateadvertisements), that has a high bandwidth requirement for transmissionover the network. By taking control of the transmission of secondarycontent to the content display site, the secondary content storage siteis also frequently taking control of the most bandwidth sensitive partsof the content provided by the primary content providers. The operatorof the secondary content storage site may not provide a system thataddresses the bandwidth requirements to the satisfaction of the primarycontent provider, so that the presentation of the combined primary andsecondary content occurs more slowly than desired by the primary contentprovider. Thus, this approach causes the primary content provider tolose control of a critical aspect of their operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention can enable monitoring of the display of content by acomputer system. Moreover, the invention can enable monitoring of thecontent display to produce monitoring information from which conclusionsmay be deduced regarding the observation of the content display by anobserver. The invention can also enable monitoring of the display at acontent display site of content that is provided by a content providersite over a network to the content display site. Additionally, theinvention can enable the expeditious provision of updated and/ortailored content over a network from a content provider site to acontent display site so that the content provider's current andappropriately tailored content is always displayed at the contentdisplay site.

Aspects of the invention related to transfer of content over a networkare generally applicable to any type of network. However, it iscontemplated that the invention can be particularly useful with acomputer network, including private computer networks (e.g., AmericaOnline™) and public computer networks (e.g., the Internet). Inparticular, the invention can be advantageously used with computernetworks or portions of computer networks over which video and/or audiocontent are transferred from one network site to another network sitefor observation, such as the World Wide Web portion of the Internet.Additionally, the invention is particularly useful in monitoring thedisplay of content obtained over such a network using an interactivebrowser to acquire and view the content in real time.

In one aspect of the invention, the display of content by a computersystem can be monitored by monitoring the position of the contentdisplay on a display screen of the computer system and evaluating theposition of the content display on the display screen to producemonitoring information regarding display of the content. Monitoring ofcontent display according to this aspect of the invention can be furtherenabled by monitoring the position of one or more other images on thedisplay screen and comparing the position of the content display to theposition of the other images to produce the monitoring information. Inparticular, this aspect of the invention can enable a determination asto whether (and for how long) the content display is hidden by one ofthe other images, and, further, whether the content display is fullyhidden or partially hidden (and for how long the content display isfully and partially hidden, respectively). This information can beuseful to, for example, indicate the amount of time that the contentdisplay was visible to an observer for observation, or to aid thecontent provider in determining in which regions of a display screen hiscontent is most likely to be unobstructed. This aspect of the inventioncan also enable determination of the number of times that an on-screenpointer (e.g., a mouse arrow or a cursor) entered an area defined by thecontent display. This information may be useful in determining howattentive the observer was to the content, since an observer frequentlywatches the position of the on-screen pointer when viewing the displayscreen.

In another aspect of the invention, the display of content by a computersystem can be monitored by monitoring the change in time of acharacteristic of the content display and evaluating the change in timeof the characteristic of the content display to produce monitoringinformation regarding display of the content. Monitoring of contentdisplay according to this aspect of the invention can be further enabledby monitoring the change in time of a characteristic of the computersystem and comparing the change in time of the characteristic of thecontent display to the change in time of the characteristic of thecomputer system to produce the monitoring information. This aspect ofthe invention can also enable, as discussed above, determination as towhether (and for how long) the content display is fully or partiallyhidden by another displayed image, as well as the number of times thatan on-screen pointer entered an area defined by the content display.

In still another aspect of the invention, in a computer system in whichthe content is displayed in response to an instruction that is providedfrom a source external to the computer system and the system formonitoring (e.g., an instruction provided by a user of the computersystem), the beginning and end of a display of the content can beascertained so that monitoring of the display of content by the computersystem can begin at the beginning of the content display and end at theend of the content display. The monitoring can occur in accordance withother aspects of the invention described herein. The monitoring can alsodetermine the duration of the display of the content. Since theoccurrence of monitoring according to this aspect of the invention iscoincident with the display of the content to be monitored, themonitoring expends processing capability of the computer system onlywhen necessary, while simultaneously assuring that monitoring occurs atall times that the content is displayed.

In yet another aspect of the invention, where content is provided by acontent provider site over a network to a content display site fordisplay at the content display site, a mechanism for monitoring thedisplay of the content can be transferred from the content provider siteto the content display site in response to (e.g., together with) thetransfer of content from the content provider site. The monitoring canoccur in accordance with other aspects of the invention describedherein. Monitoring information obtained regarding the display of thecontent at the content display site can be transferred to a remote sitethat is part of the network. The remote site can, but need notnecessarily be, the content provider site from which the content wastransferred to the content display site. Where the remote site is suchcontent provider site, the monitoring information can then, in turn, betransferred from the content provider site to a second remote site.Further, where the remote site is such content provider site, themonitoring information can be transferred from the content display siteto the content provider site via a communication means that is differentfrom the communication means used to transfer the content from thecontent provider site to the content display site, a feature that can beuseful, for example, when the network is the World Wide Web. This aspectof the invention provides a heretofore unavailable monitoring capabilityfor obtaining information about how content is displayed on a networksuch as the World Wide Web. In particular, it has not previously beenpossible to monitor content transferred from a content provider site onthe World Wide Web once the content has been transferred to a contentdisplay site.

In a still further aspect of the invention, in a network which operatesaccording to a protocol that enables new content to be transferred to acontent display site in response to selection of a portion of thecontent currently being displayed at the content display site, amechanism for monitoring the display of content can be transferred froma content provider site to a content display site so that the mechanismfor monitoring operates at the content provider site. The monitoring canoccur in accordance with other aspects of the invention describedherein. Monitoring information obtained regarding the display of thecontent at the content display site can be transferred to a remote sitethat is part of the network. This aspect of the invention isparticularly advantageous when at least some of the content beingmonitored comprises a graphical display. As discussed above with respectto the immediately preceding aspect of the invention, this aspect of theinvention provides a heretofore unavailable monitoring capability forobtaining information about how content is displayed when retrieved overa network in an interactive browsing environment, such as occurs on theWorld Wide Web.

In yet a further aspect of the invention, the display of content that isprovided by a content provider site over a network to the contentdisplay site is monitored to produce monitoring information, then thenetwork that is different from the content provider site.

According to this aspect, the monitoring information can first betransferred to the content providing site before eventual transfer tothe remote site, so long as the monitoring information cannot be storedat the content provider site, or accessed or manipulated at the contentprovider site before transfer to the remote site. Access to themonitoring information at the remote site can be allowed to enableinteraction with, but not modification of, the monitoring information.This aspect of the invention provides a system configuration that canovercome the problem of possible tampering with the substance of themonitoring information by the content provider. Further, this aspect ofthe invention can be implemented so that the content and the monitoringinstructions are stored at the remote site and transferred to thecontent display site when requested by an observer at the contentdisplay site, thus relieving the content provider of storing andmanaging the content and monitoring instructions at the content providersite and thereby simplifying use of the invention for the contentprovider.

In another aspect of the invention, current and/or tailored content canbe provided to a content display site from a content provider site. Thecontent can include both primary content (from the content providersite) and secondary content (provided by third parties). The primary andsecondary content can be provided from a secondary content provider siteto an application manager site. When the application manager sitereceives new content (in particular, updated and/or tailored content)from any content provider site, that content is transferred to contentprovider sites that use that content. Updated and/or tailored content istherefore available for transfer to a content display site immediatelyupon receipt of a request for the content from the content display site.

This aspect of the invention relieves the primary content provider ofthe need to manage the storage of content, while reserving control overthe provision of that content to the primary content provider, therebyenabling the content provider to ensure that the bandwidth requirementof the content provided from the content provider site are met.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A and 1B are simplified diagrams of a network illustratingoperation of a previous system for monitoring requests for content overthe World Wide Web.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D are simplified diagrams of a networkillustrating operation of a previous system for enabling retrieval ofupdated and/or tailored secondary content for use in primary contentprovided over the network.

FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C are simplified diagrams of a network illustratingoperation of one embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C are simplified views of a display screen including acontent display and other images, illustrating an unobstructed, fullyhidden, and partially hidden content display, respectively.

FIG. 4D is a simplified view of a display screen including a contentdisplay and other images, illustrating a content display that is onlypartially hidden, but that would be determined to be fully hiddenaccording to a method of the invention. FIG. 4E is a simplified view ofthe display screen shown in FIG. 4D, illustrating how another method ofthe invention can correctly determine the content display to bepartially hidden.

FIG. 4F is a simplified view of a display screen including a contentdisplay and other images, illustrating a display that is partiallyhidden, but that may be determined to be unobstructed according to amethod of the invention.

FIGS. 5A, 5B and 5C are simplified diagrams of a network illustratingoperation of another embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C and 6D are simplified diagrams of a networkillustrating operation of still another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a method of monitoring a display ofcontent according to a still further embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention includes several aspects related to the display of contentto an observer. For example, the invention can enable monitoring of thedisplay of content by a computer system.

In particular, the invention can enable monitoring of the displayedcontent in a manner that provides monitoring information from whichaspects of the observer's observation of the content can be gleaned.

The invention can also enable monitoring of the display and—using theaforementioned capability—the observation at a content display site ofcontent that is provided by a content provider site over a network tothe content display site. Additionally, the invention can enable theexpeditious provision of updated and/or tailored content over a networkfrom a content provider site to a content display site so that thecontent provider's current and appropriately tailored content is alwaysdisplayed at the content display site.

Herein, “content” refers generally to any sensory images (or data usedto produce those sensory images) displayed by a device with which theinvention is used. “Observation” refers to the perception of content byan observer. Typically, the content will be visual or aural imagesproduced by the device; observation of such content thus consists ofviewing or listening, as appropriate, to the produced images.

Certain aspects of the invention relate to the monitoring of contentobtained from, or provision of content over, a network. “Contentprovider site” refers to a device that is part of the network and thatcan provide content to another device that is part of the network.“Content display site” refers to a device that is part of the networkand that can receive and display content from another device that ispart of the network. It is contemplated that the invention can beparticularly useful with a computer network that operates in this way.“Computer network” includes any collection of interconnected computersystems. “Computer system” refers to a device or collection of deviceswhich depend upon a computational device (e.g., a general or specialpurpose processor) for at least some aspects of their operation. Inparticular, as used herein, a “computer system” can include any type ofdisplay device, including a conventional computer display monitor, atelevision, or one or more audio speakers.

FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C are simplified diagrams of a network according toone aspect of the invention and FIG. 7 illustrates a method 700 ofoperating the network according to another embodiment of the invention.The method 700 of FIG. 7 may be implemented via computer softwareinstructions executed by any of the devices included in FIGS. 3A, 3B and3C. A content display site 302 (which can be embodied by a conventionalclient computer) is linked via a network communication line (or lines)303 to a content provider site 301 (which can be embodied by aconventional server computer). (Typically, the network links multiplecontent display sites with multiple content provider sites; a singlecontent display site 302 and a single content provider site 301 areshown in FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C for simplicity. Additionally, it is to beunderstood that each site on the network can function as both a contentdisplay site and a content provider site.) As shown in FIGS. 3A and 7,the client computer at the content display site 302 requests contentfrom the server computer at the content provider site 301 over thenetwork communication line 303 in a step 702. As shown in FIGS. 3B and7, and server computer at the content provider site 301 provides contentto the client computer at the content display site 302 over the networkcommunication line 303 in a step 704. According to this aspect of theinvention, in response to the request for content from the contentprovider site 301, a set of monitoring instructions (which can beembodied, for example, in a computer program) are also transferred tothe content display site 302 in a step 706. Although shown in FIG. 7 asoccurring after the transfer of content, the transfer of the monitoringinstructions can occur before, with or after the transfer of thecontent. As explained in more detail below, the monitoring instructionscan occur before, with or after the transfer of the content. Asexplained in more detail below, the monitoring instructions cause theclient computer at the content display site 302 to monitor the displayof the content to produce monitoring information regarding the manner inwhich the content is displayed in a set of steps 708 and 710. As shownin FIG. 3C, the monitoring information is transferred from the contentdisplay site 302 to the content provider site 301 over the networkcommunication line 303 in a step 712. (The monitoring information could,alternatively or additionally, be transferred to another site that ispart of the network.) Review of the monitoring information produced bythe monitoring instructions can enable conclusions regarding the user'sobservation of the content to be deduced, as explained in more detailbelow in a step 714. (It should be noted, that, more generally,monitoring instructions according to the invention can be used tomonitor the display of content on a computer system whether or not thecomputer system is part of a network and receives content and monitoringinstructions over the network. (It should be noted that, more generally,monitoring instructions according to the invention can be used tomonitor the display of content on a computer system whether or not thecomputer system is part of a network and receives content and monitoringinstructions over the network.)

The invention can be used with both public computer networks (e.g., theInternet) and private computer networks (e.g., commercial onlineservices such as America Online™, Prodigy™ and CompuServe™, as well asintranets). In particular, the invention can be advantageously used withcomputer networks or portions of computer networks over which videoand/or audio content are transferred from one network site to anothernetwork site for display. Further, the invention can advantageously beused with a network in which the network sites can be accessed in realtime with a browser. (“Browser” can refer to a computer program whichcan interpret hypertext files and display the content corresponding tothose files, as well as enable transfer from one hypertext file toanother via a hyperlink within the hypertext file being transferredfrom.) The World Wide Web portion of the Internet is a well-knowncurrent example of such a network with which the invention can be used.Below, some aspects of the invention are described, for purposes ofillustration, as implemented in a manner that is compatible with theWorld Wide Web, i.e., in accordance with the hypertext markup language(html) and the hypertext transfer protocol (http). However, none of theaspects of the invention are limited to such implementation.

When the invention is used with a computer network or to monitor displayof content by a computer system, aspects of the invention can beimplemented as one or more computer programs that can be executed by acomputer to achieve the functionality of that aspect. Generally, suchcomputer programs can be implemented using any appropriate computerprogramming language. However, when an aspect of the invention is usedwith a computer network that includes computers of many different types(such as the Internet), the computer programming language is preferablyone that can be executed by any type of computer (i.e., the computerprogramming language is platform independent). The Java programminglanguage, developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.,is one such computer programming language. Below, some aspects of theinvention are described, for purposes of illustration, as implemented inthe Java programming language. Again, however, none of the aspects ofthe invention are limited to such implementation.

In one embodiment of the invention, the monitoring instructions aretransferred to the content display site 302 together with the content.In a particular embodiment, the monitoring instructions are part of acomputer program that also includes instructions for displaying thecontent. Illustratively, such a computer program can be an appletwritten in the Java programming language. As will be appreciated bythose skilled in the use of html, Example 1 below illustrates a set ofinstructions in accordance with the html syntax that can be used tocause execution of an applet that both displays content and monitors thedisplay.

EXAMPLE 1

-   <applet code=“AdInsert.class” width=230 height=33>-   <param name=“image” value=“images/southwest.gif”>-   <param name=“href” value=“http://www.swa.com/”>-   </applet>    The instructions shown in Example 1 are executed by a conventional    browser implemented on a computer at a content display site when an    observer at the content display site makes a request for (e.g.,    selects a hyperlink) the content represented by the file    “southwest.gif.” The request is received by an http daemon at the    appropriate content provider site. The instructions identify the    location (“image”) at the content provider site of an applet (a    small application program) called “AdInsert” that includes further    instructions which, when executed, perform a monitoring method    according to the invention, as well as cause the content to be    displayed. (The steps that can be implemented in such a monitoring    method are discussed further below.) Upon receipt of the request by    the http daemon at the content provider site, the AdInsert applet is    transferred to the requesting content display site and begins    executing. The instructions in Example 1 also establish the size of    the area (width and height) in which the content is displayed on a    computer display screen, as well as indicate a network site (“href”)    to which connection can be made by selecting a hyperlink within the    content. Thus, illustratively, in accordance with the invention,    content from a content provider site that can be accessed by a    browser (such as a network site that is part of the World Wide Web)    can be transferred to and displayed at a content display site by    transferring an applet to the content display site that can be    executed by the browser to both display the content and cause    aspects of the display of the content to be monitored. (Note that    the content being monitored can comprise all of the content being    displayed, or only a part of the content being displayed, e.g., an    advertisement present in a Web page.)

In contrast, previously, only content has been transferred to contentdisplay sites, using an html syntax as shown in Example 2 below for thecontent that is displayed by the html syntax shown in Example 1 above.

EXAMPLE 2

-   <a href=“http://www.swa.com/”>-   <img border=0 src=“/images/southwest.gif” height=33 width=230>-   </a>    Thus, previously, it has not been possible to monitor content    transferred from a content provider site on the World Wide Web once    the content has been transferred to the content display site. As can    be appreciated, then, this aspect of the invention provides a    powerful tool, not previously available, for obtaining information    about how content is displayed on a computer network such as the    World Wide Web.

Implementation of a monitoring method as described immediately abovemeans that the operation of the monitoring method is coincident with thedisplay of the content to be monitored. Since the monitoring method doesnot operate when the content is not being displayed, the monitoringmethod expends processing capability of the computer system at thecontent display site only when necessary. At the same time, operation ofthe monitoring method at all times when the content is displayed isassured.

Further, since the monitoring method can be implemented as part of abroader method according to the invention that also causes the contentto be displayed, the problems previously noted with monitoring thedisplay of content that is cached at the content display site areovercome. This is because, unlike the previous use of log files—whichrequire that a request be made to a content provider site in order thatany information be recorded—a monitoring method according to theinvention can record monitoring information any time that the content isdisplayed, without regard to the manner in which the display isrequested. In particular, the invention can enable the number of timesthat a particular set of content is displayed to be precisely counted.This is a huge improvement over previous methods as described above,which not only do not count the number of times that the content isdisplayed (they count requests), but may not even count the number ofrequests accurately.

The instructions that implement a monitoring method according to theinvention can be used to obtain a large variety of monitoringinformation. For example, the contents of conventional log files(discussed above) can be ascertained by a monitoring method of theinvention. An important aspect of the invention, however, is thatmonitoring information beyond that available in a conventional log filecan also be obtained by a monitoring method according to the invention.Instructions for obtaining several types of such monitoring informationare described below. However, it is to be understood that thedescriptions below are merely illustrative of the types of monitoringinformation that can be obtained; the obtaining of other types ofmonitoring information is also contemplated by the invention.

For example, a monitoring method according to the invention can detecteach time that the content is displayed. In fact, in one embodiment of amonitoring method according to the invention, the monitoring method doesno more than this. A monitoring method that detects the display of thecontent can be implemented by an applet as described above. The“monitoring instructions” of such an applet may be no more than aninstruction that causes an indication that the applet has executed to bestored or transferred to an appropriate network site (discussed furtherbelow). A monitoring method that can ascertain whether the content wasdisplayed or not can be a very useful monitoring method that providesimportant basic information not previously available in an interactivebrowsing environment for acquiring and viewing content. In particular,undercounting (due to, for example, caching of content at the contentdisplay site) and overcounting (due to, for example, submission ofartificial requests for content that do not result in the display ofcontent) of the number of times that the content is displayed areavoided.

A monitoring method according to the invention can also determine theduration of the content display. For example, the duration of thecontent display can be determined as the amount of time that thecomputer program for displaying the content executed, as indicated bytime stamps—ascertainable, for example, using a method that exists aspart of the Java language—associated with a predefined beginning and endof execution of the program.

In one embodiment of the invention, a monitoring method monitors theposition of the content on a display screen while the content is beingdisplayed. The position is evaluated to produce monitoring informationregarding the display of the content. Such evaluation can beaccomplished, for example, by further obtaining information regardingthe position of one or more other images on the display screen, andcomparing the position of the content to the position of the one or moreother images.

For example, in accordance with the above embodiment, the monitoringmethod can determine whether the content is not visible on the displayscreen, either because the content is occluded by the one or more otherimages, or because the content has been “scrolled” off of the displayscreen (hereafter, these two situations will be referred to together bysaying that the content is “hidden”). Further, the monitoring method candetermine whether the content is partially hidden, i.e., eitherpartially occluded by the one or more other images, or partiallyscrolled off of the display screen. Moreover, the duration of time ofeach period during which the content is fully or partially hidden can bedetermined as such periods occur. The duration of time of unobstructeddisplays of the content can be determined as times when the view of thecontent is not either fully or partially hidden. Each of the durationscan be reported directly and/or the total duration that the content isfully hidden, partially hidden, fully or partially hidden and/orunobstructed, respectively, can be reported.

Information regarding whether or not the displayed content is hidden canbe useful for a variety of reasons. For example, such informationindicates the amount of time that the displayed content was visible tothe observer for observation. Additionally, this information can be usedby the content provider to determine in which regions of a displayscreen his content is most likely to be unobstructed.

Whether the displayed content is hidden can be determined in any mannerthat is possible using the tools (e.g., supported programming language,operating system characteristics) associated with the computer networkwith which the invention is being used. One way of determining whetherthe displayed content is hidden using the above-described applet is toperiodically declare that the content display (or a portion thereof) isinvalid, i.e., the operating system is asked to redraw the contentdisplay, if necessary. If the operating system then makes a request tothe applet to redraw the content display, then the content display isnot hidden. However, if the operating system does not make a request tothe applet to redraw the content display, then the content display ishidden.

The most complete information regarding whether the content display ishidden can be obtained by invalidating each discrete element of thecontent display (e.g., pixel) and determining whether the discreteelement is hidden, in the manner described above. However, such anapproach is computationally expensive and is generally not necessary toobtain useful and sufficiently accurate information regarding whetherthe content display is hidden. Preferably, then, only a portion of thecontent display, strategically selected, is evaluated in this manner.

For example, in one embodiment of the invention, each of the corners ofthe content display are invalidated and monitored for redrawing asdescribed above. If all of the corners are redrawn, then the contentdisplay is determined to be unobstructed. If none of the corners areredrawn, then the content display is determined to be fully hidden. Ifat least one, but not all, of the corners are redrawn, then the displayis determined to be partially hidden.

FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C are simplified views of a display screen 400including a content display 401 and other images 402, 403 and 404,illustrating an unobstructed, fully hidden, and partially hidden contentdisplay, respectively. In FIG. 4A, none of the corners 401 a, 401 b, 401c or 401 d are covered by one of the other images 402, 403 and 404.Thus, after the corners 401 a, 401 b, 401 c and 401 d are invalidated,each is redrawn, and the content display 401 is (correctly, in thiscase) determined to be unobstructed. In FIG. 4B, each of the corners 401a, 401 b, 401 c and 401 d is covered by the image 402. Thus, none of thecorners 401 a, 401 b, 401 c and 401 d are redrawn after beinginvalidated, and the content display 401 is (again, correctly)determined to be fully hidden. In FIG. 4C, the corners 401 c and 401 dare covered by the image 402, but the corners 401 a and 401 b are not.Thus, only the corners 401 a and 401 b are redrawn after invalidation ofthe corners 401 a, 401 b, 401 c and 401 d, and the content display 401is (once again, correctly) determined to be partially hidden.

The above approach may not be accurate in all cases. FIG. 4D is asimplified view of the display screen 400 including the content display400 and other images 402, 403 and 404, illustrating a partially hiddencontent display 401 that would be determined to be fully hiddenaccording to the method of the invention detailed above. In FIG. 4D, theimage 402 covers the corners 401 c and 401 c, the image 403 covers thecorner 401 a, and the image 404 covers the corner 401 b. Thus, sincenone of the four corners 401 a, 401 b, 401 c and 401 d is redrawn afterbeing invalidated, the content display 401 is determined to be fullyhidden; however, as can be seen in FIG. 4D, this is not the case.

This problem can be alleviated by evaluating other discrete elements ofthe content display in addition to the corners. For example, discreteelements at the center of the upper and lower edges, and/or the rightand left edges of the content display could be evaluated in addition tothe corner pixels. FIG. 4E is a simplified view of the display screen400 as shown in FIG. 4D, illustrating how another method of theinvention can correctly determine the content display 401 to bepartially hidden. In FIG. 4E, the upper edge center 401 e and the loweredge center 401 f of the content display 401 are also evaluated. Thelower edge center 401 f is covered by the image 402, while the upperedge center 401 e is not. Thus, after invalidation of the corners 401 a,401 b, 401 c and 401 d, and the centers 401 e and 401 f, the upper edgecenter 401 e is redrawn, and the content display 401 is (correctly)determined to be partially hidden.

FIG. 4F is a simplified view of the display screen 400, including thecontent display 401 and other images 402, 403 and 404, illustrating apartially hidden content display 401 that may be determined to beunobstructed according to a method of the invention. In FIG. 4F, none ofthe corners 401 a, 401 b, 401 c and 401 d, or the centers 401 e and 401f are covered by the images 402, 403 and 404. Thus, after invalidationof the corners 401 a, 401 b, 401 c and 401 d, and the centers 401 e and401 f, each is redrawn, and the content display 401 is determined to beunobstructed. However, as can be seen in FIG. 4F, this is not the case,since the image 403 is positioned in the middle of the content display401.

As illustrated in FIGS. 4D through 4F, while the evaluation ofadditional discrete elements of a content display does not eliminate thepossibility of an inaccurate determination regarding whether the contentdisplay is hidden, it does reduce the likelihood of such occurrence.Generally, any number and configuration of discrete elements of acontent display can be evaluated to reduce the possibility of anincorrect determination regarding whether the content display is hidden,so long as the associated computational cost does not becomeunacceptably high. Further, the above-described method for determiningwhether a content display is hidden is only one way in which suchdetermination can be made.

As part of determining whether the content display is hidden, a timestamp is recorded each time there is a change in the “hidden state” ofthe content display. From these time stamps, the duration of each periodof time that the content display is unobstructed, partially hidden andfully hidden can be determined. From the duration of each period, totaldurations of time that the content display is unobstructed, partiallyhidden and fully hidden can also be determined.

It may also be possible, by appropriately configuring the discreteelements of the content display that are evaluated, to determine(though, typically, approximately), when the content display ispartially hidden, the amount of the content display that is visible. Itcan be possible, too, when the content display is partially hidden, togive a qualitative description of the portion of the content displaythat is hidden (or visible), e.g., upper right corner, lower leftcorner.

When the monitoring method operates on a computer system having anevent-driven operating environment, the monitoring method can monitorevents as transmitted by the operating system to ascertain informationregarding the content display. When the monitoring method is implementedas an applet that also displays the content, such monitoring can occurnaturally, since only events concerning the content display aretransmitted to the monitoring method. For example, the applet can use apre-existing Java method (e.g., the method named HandleEvent in acurrent version of Java) to monitor events as transmitted by theoperating system. Such event monitoring can be used to, for example,determine the number of times that an on-screen pointer (e.g., a mousearrow or a cursor) entered an area defined by the content display. (Thedefined area can be related to the content display in any manner and canbe, for example, the area in which the content is displayed, or an areasomewhat smaller or larger than the area of the content display.) Theoperating system of the computer system displaying the content displaytypically monitors the position of the on-screen pointer and canidentify in which region on the display screen the pointer is located.Thus, an applet configured to display content, as described above, candiscern whether the pointer is located within the content display bymonitoring an event that indicates that the pointer has entered the areadefined by the content display. The monitoring method of the inventioncan use this information provided by the operating system to count thenumber of times that the on-screen pointer enters the area defined bythe content display. The monitoring method can also determine when theon-screen pointer leaves the defined area after each entry, bymonitoring another event that indicates that the pointer has exited thearea defined by the content display. The time stamps associated with theentry into and exit from the defined area can be used to calculate theduration of time that the pointer was in the defined area for each entryinto the defined area, as well as the total duration of time that thepointer was within the defined area. The monitoring method can alsodetermine when the on-screen pointer is moving within the defined area,again by monitoring an event that indicates such pointer movement. Theabove-described information regarding the on-screen pointer position andmovement relative to the content display may be useful in determininghow attentive the observer was to the content, since an observerfrequently watches the position of the on-screen pointer when viewingthe display screen.

In another embodiment of the invention, the monitoring method monitorsthe change in time of a characteristic of the content display. Thechange in time of this characteristic is evaluated to produce monitoringinformation. The evaluation can be accomplished, for example, by furthermonitoring the change in time of a characteristic of the computer systemused to display the content, and comparing the change in time of thecharacteristic of the content display to the change in time of thecharacteristic of the computer system. Either of the two examples givenimmediately above (hiding of the content display and entry of a pointerinto a defined area) are also examples of a monitoring method inaccordance with this embodiment of the invention.

A monitoring method according to the invention can obtain a variety ofother information, as well. For example, the monitoring method canobtain a time stamp (date and time of day) that indicates when thedisplay of the content began. When the monitoring method is implementedby an applet written in Java, the time stamp can be obtained using amethod that exists as part of the Java language.

Identifying information regarding the computer on which the content isdisplayed can also be obtained. The Internet Protocol (IP) address fromwhich the request for the content was made, as well as an identificationof the machine to which the content was transferred can be obtained.(There may not be a one-to-one correspondence between these two if, forexample, the latter is a client computer of a system for which theformer is a server computer.) Again, both the IP address and machinename can be obtained using a pre-existing Java method.

A monitoring method according to the invention can also determine if theuser of the computer at the content display site selected (e.g., clickedwith a mouse or pressed an appropriate keyboard key) a hyperlink withinthe area of the content display to end display of the current contentdisplay. Similar to the monitoring of the pointer location describedabove, an applet that implements a monitoring method of the inventioncan include a standard Java method (e.g., HandleEvent) that acceptsevents transmitted by the operating system. One of the events is theselection of a hyperlink. When such an event is reported, the monitoringmethod can so note.

As previously indicated, the above-described examples of monitoringinformation are merely illustrative of the types of monitoringinformation that can be obtained by a monitoring method according to theinvention. Generally, a monitoring method according to the invention canmake use of any method available in the computing environment, e.g., anoperating system method, or a method that is part of a softwareframework, or that can be written in a computer programming languagethat can be used in the computing environment. For example, when themonitoring method is implemented by an applet written in Java, anyexisting Java method can be used to obtain information relevant to thedisplay of the content to be monitored, either by using the method tochange the state of the computer (e.g., the state of the display) onwhich the content is being displayed and monitoring the response of thecomputer (e.g., the method for monitoring whether content display ishidden, discussed above) or by retrieving information about the state ofthe computer (e.g., the method for monitoring entry of the pointer intothe content display, discussed above). In particular, the monitoring ofevents as discussed above can be useful in discerning information aboutthe content display.

A monitoring method according to the invention can also be used toascertain information about an audio display. For example, if thecontent being monitored includes audio content that can only bedisplayed by selecting an appropriate user interface mechanism (e.g., agraphical pushbutton), a monitoring method according to the inventioncan determine whether that “event” is transmitted to the windowrepresented by the content, indicating that the audio display was atleast begun. Using a method as described above for determining theduration of a content display, together with knowledge of the when theaudio display was begun (using a time stamp as described above), theduration of the audio display can also be determined. It may also bepossible to determine the volume at which the audio content isdisplayed, by appropriately monitoring the methods used to operate theaudio display devices. These examples are merely illustrative. As can beappreciated, using any other method available in the computingenvironment, other information regarding an audio display can bedetermined.

A monitoring method according to the invention can also be used toexplicitly (i.e., by presenting questions to observers that they cananswer) acquire demographic information regarding the observers of thecontent being monitored. This could be implemented, for example, byincluding the instructions for asking such questions, the content of thequestions and the instructions for storing the obtained demographicinformation in a computer program used to implement the monitoringmethod. Or, such instructions and question content could be stored in aseparate file that is called and executed by the computer program thatimplements the monitoring method. Or, instructions for presenting thequestions and storing the answers could be included as part of thecomputer program for implementing the monitoring method, and the contentof the questions could be contained in a separate file that is accessedby the computer program. These latter two possibilities can beparticularly advantageous, since they allow multiple sets of demographicquestions to be presented to observers by the monitoring method, thusenabling the demographic questions to be tailored to the content beingdisplayed or to the characteristics of the observer likely to view thecontent.

As described above, in accordance with the invention, monitoringinformation regarding the display of content can be obtained, then laterreviewed and analyzed to enable conclusions to be drawn about how thecontent was displayed and, possibly, to enable deductions to be madeabout how the content was observed. In addition, monitoring informationcan be used to affect the display of a set of content. One way in whichthis can occur is for a set of content, or the manner in which the setof content is displayed, to be modified based upon review and analysisof monitoring information obtained from previous displays of the set ofcontent (e.g., monitoring information regarding whether or not thecontent was hidden, or the frequency of display of the content atdifferent times during the day or week, that may be used to determinethe best location on a display screen or the best times, respectively,to display the content).

Another way in which monitoring information can be used to affect thedisplay of a set of content is to use certain monitoring informationobtained just before or during the display to cause the set of contentto be displayed in a particular manner. For example, as discussed above,the IP address from which a request for a set of content emanated can beascertained when the request is first received. It may be possible toassociate characteristics of an observer or observers with an IP addressfrom which a request for content has been received (because, forexample, demographic information has previously been obtained asdescribed above when a set of content was previously transferred to thatIP address). Based upon the known characteristics associated with the IPaddress, an appropriate one of multiple versions of the requested set ofcontent can be transferred for display, e.g., if it is known that the IPaddress corresponds to a content display site that is used by observersthat speak a particular language, then text displayed aurally orvisually can be displayed in that language. As another example, theduration of time that a set of content has been displayed can bedetermined, as discussed above, and the portion of the set of contentthat is being displayed changed as a function of that duration, e.g.,the display of a set of content can begin with a particular videodisplay and change to another video display after passage of a specifiedduration of time. As still another example, the portion of a set ofcontent that is displayed can be varied based upon performancecharacteristics of the network over which the content is transferred.For example, the amount of time required to transfer data from thecontent provider site to the content display site can be monitored (by,for example, obtaining information from the log file regarding the sizeof transferred files and the amount of time required to transfer thosefiles, as discussed above). The display of the content can then becontrolled so that a moving video is displayed if the data transfer rateis above a predetermined magnitude and a still video is displayed if thedata transfer rate is below the predetermined magnitude, thepredetermined magnitude being chosen so that data rates below thatmagnitude are insufficiently fast to produce moving video of acceptablequality. The above examples are merely illustrative; other ways of usingmonitoring information to affect the display of a set of content arecontemplated by the invention.

As described above, a monitoring method according to the invention canobtain monitoring information regarding the display of content. Ofparticular interest is the basic question of whether the content wasdisplayed at all. As described above, a monitoring method according tothe invention can make this determination. Some observers, however, havedeveloped techniques for suppressing the display of particular content(e.g., advertisements). A monitoring method according to the inventioncan also increase the likelihood that particular content is displayed byconditioning certain other operation of the computer system thatdisplays the content on the display of that particular content. Forexample, the content to be monitored can be presented as part of othercontent. Such presentation is common on, for example, the World WideWeb, where, for example, advertising content is frequently included aspart of other content. A monitoring method according to the inventioncan condition the display of the other content on the display of theto-be-monitored content, e.g., the full content of a Web page cannot beviewed unless an advertisement included on the Web page is viewed.Moreover, the presentation of the other content can be conditioned onthe display of the to-be-monitored content for a specified period oftime. This can be particularly valuable when the to-be-monitored contentdoes not appear automatically as part of the other content, but, rather,is only displayed in response to selection of an appropriate userinterface mechanism (e.g., a graphical pushbutton) that is part of theother content.

In accordance with the above-described forced presentation of specifiedcontent, the detection of content suppression can be accomplished in anysuitable manner. For example, it may be possible to detect thesuppression technique being used.

Or, the display of the content can be ordered so that the content thatmust be displayed (“required content”) is displayed first; if themonitoring method detects that the content display site is displayingthe other content without first having displayed the required content,then suppression of the required content has been detected.

Upon detection of suppression of the required content, display of theother content is prevented and, if desired, a message indicating thatfact can be displayed.

As indicated above, after monitoring information is obtained by amonitoring method according to the invention, the monitoring informationis transferred from the content display site 302 to a remote site. Theremote site can be the content provider site 301 or another site that ispart of the network. When a monitoring method according to the inventionis implemented by a Java applet, the remote site is the content providersite 301, since, currently, such applets can only communicateinformation to the network site from which they were transferred.However, in the future, such constraint may not exist; in that event,the remote site need not necessarily be the content provider site 301even when a Java applet is used to implement a monitoring methodaccording to the invention.

Generally, the monitoring information can be transferred to the remotesite at any time. It may be desirable, for example, to cause themonitoring information to be transferred to the remote site immediatelyafter the monitoring information is obtained, so that the monitoringinformation is accessible as quickly as possible. It may, alternatively,be desirable to store the monitoring information at the content displaysite, then transfer the monitoring information at a time whencommunication over the network communication line 303 is fastest and/orleast expensive, e.g., at night.

The monitoring information can be communicated to a communication portthat is different than the port from which the content and themonitoring instructions were transmitted to the content display site302. In that event, a special daemon that monitors such communicationport for receipt of monitoring information is installed on the servercomputer at the content provider site. The daemon can be implemented asa conventional server daemon for monitoring data received by a servercomputer on a designated communication port. Communication of themonitoring information to a specially designated port can be useful toenable the monitoring data to sent in any desired format in accordancewith any desired protocol. For example, the monitoring data can beencrypted, as described below.

When the invention is implemented with the World Wide Web, it is alsopossible to transmit the monitoring data over the network using thecommunication channel monitored by the http daemon, i.e., bytransmitting a request to the http daemon. Such transmission may bedesirable for several reasons. For example, transmission of monitoringdata to the http daemon eliminates the need to create, and supply tooperators of the remote site to which the monitoring data is to betransferred (e.g., a Web page operator or, as described below, anapplication manager site operator), special software for receiving themonitoring data. Additionally, transmission of monitoring data bytransmitting a request to the http daemon may be the only way totransfer the monitoring data to the remote site. This can be true, forexample, when one or more client computers are served by a “proxyserver” which mediates communication between the client computers andother sites on the network. The proxy server may not allow communicationover a channel specially designated for transmitting monitoring data,but allow communication to the http daemon.

Transmission of monitoring data by making a request to the http daemoncan be accomplished in a variety of ways. For example, an http requestcan be submitted for a file having a “name” that denotes the monitoringdata in some way. Notwithstanding the spurious nature of the filerequest, the request is recorded in the http log file, from which the“name” can be retrieved to enable extraction of the monitoring data. Or,a request for execution of a CGI script can be transmitted, with theparameter of the CGI script request that specifies input to the scriptbeing specified to denote the monitoring data in some way. A computerprogram resident on the computer system at the remote site can thenimplement a method that extracts the value of the input from the CGIscript, and the monitoring data can be extracted from the value of theinput. Other methods of using CGI scripts or http requests to transmitmonitoring data to an http daemon are possible.

For security, it may be desirable to encrypt the monitoring data beforeit is transferred from the content display site 302 to a remote site.Any suitable encryption method can be used. For example, a public keyencryption method, such as the well known RSA algorithm, can be used toencrypt the monitoring data. In general, the monitoring data (or otherdata transferred over a network in accordance with the invention) can beencrypted before any transmission of the data over a network (otherexamples of such data transmission are described below as part of thesystems illustrated in FIGS. 5A, 5B and 5C, and FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C and6D).

Once communicated to the remote site, the monitoring information can bestored in any appropriate database, as known to those skilled in the artof constructing and managing databases. The monitoring information canbe presented for observation through a suitable user interface, such asa graphical user interface (GUI), in any desired format, e.g., graphs,bar charts, pie charts. The monitoring information stored in thedatabase can also be subjected to further analysis if desired. Forexample, the total time that a content display is available to be viewedcan be broken down into percentages of time that the content display wasunobstructed, partially hidden and fully hidden. Or, the percentage ofobservers of a set of content that select a particular hyperlink whileobserving the content can be identified.

The monitoring information may be of interest not only to the contentprovider that provides the content for display, but to third parties aswell. For example, if the content provided by the content providerincludes an advertisement, the advertiser may be interested in themonitoring information regarding display of the content. The third partyand the content provider may have conflicting interests in the substanceof the monitoring information. For example, if the third party is payingthe content provider to include the third party's content with thecontent provider's content, and the payment is based upon the amount ofexposure of the third party's content to observers, the content providerhas an interest in the monitoring information showing a large amount ofexposure of the content, while the third party has an interest in themonitoring information showing a small amount of exposure. (Bothparties, of course, can be simultaneously motivated by other interests,as well: for example, the third party may simply want the monitoringinformation to reflect accurately the amount of exposure of the content,so that they can use that information in assessing the effects ofproviding their content through the content provider.) If the monitoringinformation is transferred from the content display site to the contentprovider site, and unrestricted access to the monitoring informationallowed at the content provider site, there may be no foolproof way toprevent the content provider from tampering with the substance of themonitoring information. This problem is particularly acute when amonitoring method according to the invention is embodied in a manner(e.g., by a Java applet), as discussed above, that necessitates that themonitoring information be transferred back to the content provider site.

FIGS. 5A, 5B and 5C are simplified diagrams of a network illustratingoperation of another embodiment of the invention. This embodiment of theinvention provides a system configuration that can overcome the problemof possible tampering with the substance of the monitoring informationby the content provider. As in the system illustrated in FIGS. 3A, 3Band 3C, a content display site 302 is linked over a network to a contentprovider site 301. The network also includes an application manager site501. The content display site 302 and content provider site 301 cancommunicate with each other via the network communication line 303, asdescribed above, to enable transfer of content and monitoringinstructions from the content provider site 301 to the content displaysite 302. Alternatively, the content and monitoring instructions can betransferred to the content display site 302 from the application managersite 501 in response to a request received from the content providersite 301 upon receipt of the request from the content display site 302.This latter implementation is illustrated in FIGS. 5A, 5B and 5C. Insuch an implementation, the content provider site 301 needn't haveeither a computer program for implementing the monitoring method or aprogram for receiving monitoring data installed at the content providersite 301, thus simplifying use of the invention for the contentprovider. Rather, the content provider need only have an open account(as discussed below) at the application manager site 501.

In this embodiment of the invention, the monitoring information obtainedat the content display site 302 is transferred to the applicationmanager site 501, either directly from the content display site 302 orindirectly via the content provider site 301. If the latter, then themonitoring information can be received by the content provider site 301and transferred to the application manager site 501 in a way thatprevents access to the monitoring information at the content providersite 301. For example, the monitoring information could be encrypted atthe content display site 302 before transfer to the content providersite 301, the decryption method being available only at the applicationmanager site 501. Or, the monitoring information could be immediatelytransferred to the application manager site 501 after being received atthe content provider site 301. Once received at the application managersite 501, access to the monitoring information can be administered bythe (neutral) application manager so that the monitoring information cannot be modified by any of the parties having an interest in theinformation, thus ensuring the integrity of the monitoring information.

In a typical implementation, multiple sets of content will be providedfrom multiple content provider sites, and each set of content will bedisplayed by multiple content display sites. A set of monitoringinformation will be recorded for each display of each of the multiplesets of content and transferred to the application manager site forstorage in a database that is implemented on a computer at theapplication manager site. Each set of monitoring information must beidentified as corresponding to the set of content for which themonitoring information was obtained, so that monitoring information canbe appropriately stored in a database to enable later retrieval of themonitoring information for that set of content. When a monitoring methodaccording to the invention is implemented for use with the World WideWeb, this can be accomplished by appropriate specification of aparameter included in a computer program written in html used toimplement a monitoring method, as discussed above. Example 3 belowillustrates how Example 1 discussed above can be modified to make suchspecification (the “Account” parameter).

EXAMPLE 3

-   <applet code=“//AppMgr.com/AdInsert.class” width=230 height=33>-   <param name=“image” value=“images/southwest.gif”>-   <param name=“href” value=“http://www.swa.com/”>-   <param name=“Account” value=“9004560093”>-   </applet>    The database residing on the computer at the application manager    site can also be used, for example, to store account information    about the content provider site from which the content display is    provided.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C,a user interface (e.g., GUI) can be provided on the content providersite computer to enable the owner (or representative) of the contentprovider site to access monitoring information stored at the applicationmanager site regarding content displays provided by the content providersite.

Such an interface can also be configured to enable the content providerto create a new account on the application manager computer, authorizepayments for use of the monitoring system of the invention, and requestparticular analysis or presentation of obtained monitoring information.Other functions can also be provided in such an interface, as desirable.

It is also possible that there be multiple application manager sites.Typically, monitoring information for each content display will bedesignated for storage on a particular one of the application managersites. Such designation can be included as a parameter specification ina computer program used to implement the monitoring information asdiscussed above.

As discussed above, the content provided by a content provider can betailored according to any specified criteria. Further, the contentprovider may periodically update the content. Additionally, thirdparties may want to provide their content with that of a contentprovider. These third parties may also have multiple sets of speciallytailored content that are updated periodically. The management of suchmultiple sets of content by a content provider at the content providersite can become undesirably complex and may overtax the availablebandwidth for transmission of data to and from the content providersite.

FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C and 6D are simplified diagrams of a networkillustrating operation of still another embodiment of the invention.This embodiment of the invention provides a system configuration thatcan enable updated and/or tailored secondary content provided by asecondary content provider to be transferred to a primary contentdisplay site for use with primary content supplied by a primary contentprovider without the problems identified above with existing suchsystems, as discussed in more detail below.

This embodiment of the invention also can enable all of thefunctionality described above for the system illustrated in FIGS. 5A, 5Band 5C. In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C and6D, a content display site 302, a primary content provider site 602 andan application manager site 501 are linked to each other over a networkand can communicate with each other as described above. The network alsoincludes a secondary content provider site 601. As shown in FIG. 6A, inthis embodiment of the invention, secondary content can be provided fromthe secondary content provider site 601 to the application manager site501 and stored thereat. As shown in FIG. 6B, whenever secondary contentis provided to the application manager site 501, the application managercauses the content to both be stored at the application manager site 501and transferred to all content provider sites, e.g., content providersite 602, that provide that secondary content with their primarycontent. When a request for the primary content that includes suchsecondary content is received by the primary content provider site 602from the content display site 302 (FIG. 6C), the primary contentprovider site 602 is able to immediately (i.e., without necessity toretrieve the content from another network site or request that thecontent be provided to the content display site from another networksite) provide both the primary and secondary content to the contentdisplay site 302, as shown in FIG. 6D.

As can be appreciated, the management of both primary and secondarycontent can become quite burdensome when many sets, and/or many versionsof sets, of secondary content and/or primary content are being providedfrom the primary content provider site. Management of continual updatesto these sets of content data exacerbates this burden. By storingsecondary content (and, if desired, primary content) at the applicationmanager site 501, the system of FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C and 6D relieves theprimary content provider of the burden of managing such content.However, because the application manager causes the content to be storedat the content provider site 602, the content can be provided to thecontent display site 302 from the content provider site 602, rather thanthe application manager site 501, thus leaving control of bandwidthmanagement with the primary content provider so that the primary contentprovider can ensure that a system that adequately addresses thebandwidth requirements of the content provided from the primary contentprovider site 602 is in place. This is an important consideration forthe primary content provider since requesters of content from theprimary content provider will hold the primary content providerresponsible for the performance characteristics (e.g., speed) associatedwith the provision of that content. The system of FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C and6D, then, relieves the primary content provider of the need to managethe storage of content, while reserving control over the provision ofthat content to the content provider.

In this embodiment of the invention a user interface (e.g., GUI) can beprovided at both the primary content provider site 602 and theapplication manager site 501.

The primary content provider user interface can provide the samefunctionality as described above with respect to FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C.

Additionally, the primary content provider user interface can enable thecontent provider to select available secondary content for possibleinclusion with that content provider's primary content. Such selectioncan also include specification of terms upon which the primary contentprovider wishes to include the secondary content. Selection of secondarycontent does not automatically cause the secondary content to beincluded with the primary content provider's content, but, rather,causes a request for such inclusion to be made (e.g., via the secondarycontent provider user interface, described below) to the secondarycontent provider. Upon acceptance by the secondary content provider, thesecondary content can be included with the primary content. Thesecondary content provider user interface can enable the secondarycontent provider to select a primary content provider site with which toinclude the secondary content provider's content. Again, such selectioncan be made together with specification of the terms of such inclusion;the selection causes a request for inclusion to be made (e.g., via theprimary content provider user interface) to the primary contentprovider.

The secondary content user interface can also provide functionalitysimilar to that described above with respect to FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C. Aswill be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art, other functionscan also be provided in the primary content provider and secondarycontent provider user interfaces, as desirable.

As described above, monitoring instructions and content can be embodiedby an applet that executes at the content display site. In the system ofFIGS. 5A, 5B and 5C or the system of FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C and 6D, the use ofsuch an applet can advantageously dovetail with an implementation ofthose systems in which the applet is transferred to the content displaysite from the application manager site. This is because an applet mustreturn the monitoring information to the network site from which theapplet was transferred: thus, the monitoring information is transferreddirectly to the neutral application manager site. Too, when themonitoring instructions and content are transferred from the applicationmanager site to the content display site, the use of monitoringinformation to tailor the content provided to the content display site,as discussed above, can also be easily implemented.

Various embodiments of the invention have been described. Thedescriptions are intended to be illustrative, not limitative. Thus, itwill be apparent to one skilled in the art that certain modificationsmay be made to the invention as described above without departing fromthe scope of the claims set out below. For example, though the inventionhas been described above as it particularly applies to monitoring thedisplay of content disseminated over the World Wide Web, the inventioncan generally be used to monitor the display of content disseminatedover any computer network. Additionally, though an implementation of theinvention has been described in which aspects of the Java programminglanguage are used, it is to be understood that invention is not limitedto such implementation; other programming languages could be used havingother features and characteristics (e.g., the language need not be anobject-oriented language as is Java).

1. A system in a computer networked environment for generatingmonitoring information about a display of content, comprising: a contentprovider site that stores a content file, wherein the content file hasembedded therein at least one computer executable monitoring instructionto cause generation of monitoring information about the display ofcontent associated with the content file; a content display site toreceive the content file from the content provider site, to display thecontent associated with the content file, and to execute the monitoringinstruction, wherein the content display site executes the at least oneembedded monitoring instruction when the content file is accessed,thereby causing monitoring information about the display of the contentto be generated; and a remote site which did not transfer the contentfile from the content provider site to the content display site, whichis different from the content provider site, and which is adapted toreceive the generated monitoring information.
 2. The system of claim 1,wherein the at least one embedded computer executable monitoringinstruction comprises at least one computer executable monitoringinstruction that is located in the content file and that causesgeneration of the monitoring information about the display of thecontent.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one embeddedcomputer executable monitoring instruction comprises a link to at leastone computer executable monitoring instruction that resides external tothe content file and that causes generation of the monitoringinformation about the display of the content.
 4. The system of claim 1,wherein the generated monitoring information indicates that the contentwas displayed.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the generatedmonitoring information about the display of the content is stored on theremote site.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the remote site performsanalysis on the generated monitoring information about the display ofthe content.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the content file isprovided by a content provider with an assigned account number, andwherein the generated monitoring information about the display of thecontent contains the account number of the content provider.
 8. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the generated monitoring information aboutthe display of the content includes a time stamp.
 9. The system of claim1, wherein the generated monitoring information about the display of thecontent includes identifying information about the content display site.10. The system of claim 1, wherein the generated monitoring informationabout the display of the content includes demographic information. 11.The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring information about thedisplay of the content generated at the content display site includesinformation concerning a user input relating to the content displayed atthe content display site.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the userinput comprises a mouse click.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein theuser input comprises a keyboard input.
 14. The system of claim 11,wherein the user input is monitored by monitoring events transmitted byan operating system of the content display site.
 15. The system of claim1, wherein the monitoring information about the display of the contentgenerated at the content display site includes information concerning auser selection relating to the content displayed at the content displaysite.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the user selection comprises ahyperlink selection.
 17. The system of claim 15, wherein the userselection comprises selection of a user interface mechanism.
 18. Thesystem of claim 15, wherein the user selection comprises selection of agraphical pushbutton.
 19. The system of claim 15, wherein the userselection is monitored by monitoring events transmitted by an operatingsystem of the content display site.
 20. The system of claim 1, whereinthe monitoring information about the display of the content generated atthe content display site includes information concerning a user eventrelating to the content displayed at the content display site.
 21. Thesystem of claim 20, wherein the user event is an event transmitted by anoperating system of the content display site.
 22. A system in a computernetworked environment for detecting each time content is displayed at acontent display site, comprising: a content provider site that stores acontent file, wherein the content file has embedded therein at least onecomputer executable monitoring instruction to cause detection of displayof content associated with the content file; a content display site toreceive the content file from the content provider site, to display thecontent associated with the content file, and to execute the monitoringinstruction, wherein when the content display site reads the contentfile, the at least one embedded computer executable monitoringinstruction associated with the content file is executed at the contentdisplay site, thereby causing display of the content to be detected andcausing generation of a data signal encoded with data indicating thatthe content was displayed; and a remote site which did not deliver thecontent file to the content display site, which is different from thecontent provider site, and which is adapted to receive the generateddata signal.
 23. The system of claim 22, wherein the at least oneembedded computer executable monitoring instruction comprises at leastone computer executable monitoring instruction that is located in thecontent file and that detects the display of the content and generatesthe data signal.
 24. The system of claim 22, wherein the at least oneembedded computer executable monitoring instruction comprises a link toat least one computer executable monitoring instruction that residesexternal to the content file and that causes detection of the display ofthe content and generation of the data signal.
 25. The system of claim22, wherein the remote site extracts the encoded data from the datasignal and stores the data.
 26. The system of claim 25, wherein theremote site performs analysis on the stored data.
 27. The system ofclaim 22, wherein the content file is provided by a content providerwith an assigned account number, and wherein the encoded data of thedata signal includes the account number of the content provider.
 28. Thesystem of claim 22, wherein the encoded data of the data signal includesa time stamp.
 29. The system of claim 22, wherein the encoded data ofthe data signal includes identifying information about the contentdisplay site.
 30. The system of claim 22, wherein the encoded data ofthe data signal includes demographic information.
 31. The system ofclaim 22, wherein the data indicating that the content was displayedcomprises information identifying a user input relating to the contentdisplayed at the content display site.
 32. The system of claim 31,wherein the user input comprises a mouse click.
 33. The system of claim31, wherein the user input comprises a keyboard input.
 34. The system ofclaim 31, wherein the user input is monitored by monitoring eventstransmitted by an operating system of the content display site.
 35. Thesystem of claim 22, wherein the data indicating that the content wasdisplayed comprises information identifying a user selection relating tothe content displayed at the content display site.
 36. The system ofclaim 35, wherein the user selection comprises a hyperlink selection.37. The system of claim 35, wherein the user selection comprisesselection of a user interface mechanism.
 38. The system of claim 35,wherein the user selection comprises selection of a graphicalpushbutton.
 39. The system of claim 35, wherein the user selection ismonitored by monitoring events transmitted by an operating system of thecontent display site.
 40. The system of claim 22, wherein the dataindicating that the content was displayed comprises informationidentifying a user event relating to the content displayed at thecontent display site.
 41. The system of claim 40, wherein the user eventis an event transmitted by an operating system of the content displaysite.
 42. A system in a computer networked environment for detectingeach time content is displayed at a content display site, comprising: acomputer readable medium having a content file originally provided by acontent provider stored thereon, wherein the content file has embeddedtherein at least one computer executable monitoring instruction to causedetection of display of content associated with the content file; acontent display site to display the content associated with the contentfile and to execute the computer executable monitoring instruction,wherein the content display site only executes the at least one embeddedcomputer executable monitoring instruction if the content file providedby the content provider is accessed, thereby causing the display of thecontent to be detected and causing generation of a data signal encodedwith data indicating that the content was displayed; and a remote sitewhich did not provide the content file to the content display site andadapted to receive the generated data signal.
 43. The system of claim42, wherein the computer readable medium is resident on a contentprovider site.
 44. The system of claim 42, wherein the computer readablemedium is resident on the content display site.
 45. The system of claim42, wherein the at least one embedded computer executable monitoringinstruction comprises at least one computer executable monitoringinstruction that is located in the content file and that detects thedisplay of the content and generates the data signal.
 46. The system ofclaim 42, wherein the at least one embedded computer executablemonitoring instruction comprises a link to at least one computerexecutable monitoring instruction that resides external to the contentfile and that causes detection of the display of the content andgeneration of the data signal.
 47. The system of claim 42, wherein theremote site extracts the encoded data from the data signal and storesthe data.
 48. The system of claim 47, wherein the remote site performsanalysis on the stored data.
 49. The system of claim 42, wherein thecontent file is provided by a content provider with an assigned accountnumber, and wherein the encoded data of the data signal includes theaccount number of the content provider.
 50. The system of claim 42,wherein the encoded data of the data signal includes a time stamp. 51.The system of claim 42, wherein the encoded data of the data signalincludes identifying information about the content display site.
 52. Thesystem of claim 42, wherein the encoded data of the data signal includesdemographic information.
 53. The system of claim 42, wherein the dataindicating that the content was displayed includes informationconcerning a user input relating to the content displayed at the contentdisplay site.
 54. The system of claim 53, wherein the user inputcomprises a mouse click.
 55. The system of claim 53, wherein the userinput comprises a keyboard input.
 56. The system of claim 53, whereinthe user input is monitored by monitoring events transmitted by anoperating system of the content display site.
 57. The system of claim42, wherein the data indicating that the content was displayed includesinformation concerning a user selection relating to the contentdisplayed at the content display site.
 58. The system of claim 57,wherein the user selection comprises a hyperlink selection.
 59. Thesystem of claim 57, wherein the user selection comprises selection of auser interface mechanism.
 60. The system of claim 57, wherein the userselection comprises selection of a graphical pushbutton.
 61. The systemof claim 57, wherein the user selection is monitored by monitoringevents transmitted by an operating system of the content display site.62. The system of claim 42, wherein the data indicating that the contentwas displayed includes information concerning a user event relating tothe content displayed at the content display site.
 63. The system ofclaim 62, wherein the user event is an event transmitted by an operatingsystem of the content display site.
 64. A method for detecting each timecontent is displayed at a content display site, comprising: receiving acontent file from a content provider site at a content display site, thecontent file having embedded therein at least one computer executablemonitoring instruction that causes display of content associated withthe content file to be detected; accessing the content file at thecontent display site to cause display of the content and execution ofthe at least one embedded computer executable monitoring instruction tocause generation of a data signal encoded with data indicating that thecontent was displayed; and transmitting the data signal to a remote sitewhich did not transfer the content file from the content provider siteto the content display site and which is different from the contentprovider site.
 65. The method of claim 64, wherein the at least oneembedded computer executable monitoring instruction comprises at leastone computer executable monitoring instruction that is located in thecontent file to detect the display of the content and to generate thedata signal.
 66. The method of claim 64, wherein the at least oneembedded computer executable monitoring instruction comprises a link toat least one computer executable monitoring instruction that residesexternal to the content file to cause detection of the display of thecontent and generation of the data signal.
 67. The method of claim 64,wherein the content file is provided by a content provider with anassigned account number, and wherein the encoded data of the data signalincludes the account number of the content provider.
 68. The method ofclaim 64, wherein the encoded data of the data signal includes a timestamp.
 69. The method of claim 64, wherein the encoded data of the datasignal includes identifying information about the content display site.70. The method of claim 64, wherein the encoded data of the data signalincludes demographic information.
 71. The method of claim 64, furthercomprising: extracting the encoded data from the data signal; andstoring the extracted data at the remote site.
 72. The method of claim71, further comprising analyzing the stored data.
 73. The method ofclaim 64, further comprising storing the content file at the contentdisplay site, wherein accessing the content file at the content displaysite comprises accessing the stored content file.
 74. The method ofclaim 64, wherein the data indicating that the content was displayedcomprises information identifying a user input relating to the contentdisplayed at the content display site.
 75. The method of claim 74,wherein the user input comprises a mouse click.
 76. The method of claim74, wherein the user input comprises a keyboard input.
 77. The method ofclaim 74, wherein the user input is monitored by monitoring eventstransmitted by an operating system of the content display site.
 78. Themethod of claim 64, wherein the data indicating that the content wasdisplayed includes information concerning a user selection relating tothe content displayed at the content display site.
 79. The method ofclaim 78, wherein the user selection comprises a hyperlink selection.80. The method of claim 78, wherein the user selection comprisesselection of a user interface mechanism.
 81. The method of claim 78,wherein the user selection comprises selection of a graphicalpushbutton.
 82. The method of claim 78, wherein the user selection ismonitored by monitoring events transmitted by an operating system of thecontent display site.
 83. The method of claim 64, wherein the dataindicating that the content was displayed includes informationconcerning a user event relating to the content displayed at the contentdisplay site.
 84. The method of claim 83, wherein the user event is anevent transmitted by an operating system of the content display site.85. A computer readable medium comprising a file containing content fordisplay and having embedded therein at least one computer executablemonitoring instruction that, when executed, causes display of thecontent associated with the file to be detected, and at least onecomputer executable instruction that, when executed, causes dataindicating the content was displayed to be transmitted to a remote sitewhich did not supply the file.
 86. The computer readable medium of claim85, wherein the computer readable medium is resident on a contentprovider site.
 87. The computer readable medium of claim 85, wherein thecomputer readable medium is resident on a content display site.
 88. Thecomputer readable medium of claim 85, wherein the at least one embeddedcomputer executable monitoring instruction comprises at least onecomputer executable monitoring instruction that is located in the fileto detect the display of the content associated with the file.
 89. Thecomputer readable medium of claim 85, wherein the at least one embeddedcomputer executable monitoring instruction comprises a link to at leastone computer executable monitoring instruction that resides external tothe file to cause detection of the display of the content associatedwith the file.
 90. The computer readable medium of claim 85, wherein thedata indicating that the content was displayed includes informationreflecting a user input.
 91. The computer readable medium of claim 90,wherein the user input comprises a mouse click.
 92. The computerreadable medium of claim 90, wherein the user input comprises a keyboardinput.
 93. The computer readable medium of claim 90, wherein the userinput is monitored by monitoring events transmitted by an operatingsystem.
 94. The computer readable medium of claim 85, wherein the dataindicating that the content was displayed includes informationreflecting a user selection.
 95. The computer readable medium of claim94, wherein the user selection comprises a hyperlink selection.
 96. Thecomputer readable medium of claim 94, wherein the user selectioncomprises selection of a user interface mechanism.
 97. The computerreadable medium of claim 94, wherein the user selection comprisesselection of a graphical pushbutton.
 98. The computer readable medium ofclaim 94, wherein the user selection is monitored by monitoring eventstransmitted by an operating system.
 99. The computer readable medium ofclaim 85, wherein the data indicating that the content was displayedincludes information concerning a user event.
 100. The computer readablemedium of claim 99, wherein the user event is an event transmitted by anoperating system.
 101. An article of manufacture comprising a tangiblemedium storing executable machine readable instructions comprising: acomputer executable display instruction which, when executed, causes animage originally provided by a content provider to be displayed on adisplay device; a computer executable monitoring instruction associatedwith the display instruction such that the monitoring instruction isexecuted to monitor the display when the image is displayed and suchthat the monitoring instruction is not executed when the image is notdisplayed; and a computer executable transmit instruction which, whenexecuted, causes data indicating the image was displayed to betransmitted to a remote site which did not supply the image.
 102. Thearticle of manufacture of claim 101, wherein the data indicating thatthe image was displayed is information identifying a user input relatingto the image.
 103. The article of manufacture of claim 102, wherein theuser input comprises a mouse click.
 104. The article of manufacture ofclaim 102, wherein the user input comprises a keyboard input.
 105. Thearticle of manufacture of claim 102, wherein the user input is monitoredby monitoring events transmitted by an operating system.
 106. Thearticle of manufacture of claim 101, wherein the data indicating thatthe image was displayed is information identifying a user selectionrelating to the image.
 107. The article of manufacture of claim 106,wherein the user selection comprises a hyperlink selection.
 108. Thearticle of manufacture of claim 106, wherein the user selectioncomprises selection of a user interface mechanism.
 109. The article ofmanufacture of claim 106, wherein the user selection comprises selectionof a graphical pushbutton.
 110. The article of manufacture of claim 106,wherein the user selection is monitored by monitoring events transmittedby an operating system.
 111. The article of manufacture of claim 101,wherein the data indicating that the image was displayed includesinformation concerning a user event relating to the image.
 112. Thearticle of manufacture of claim 111, wherein the user event is an eventtransmitted by an operating system.
 113. An article of manufacturecomprising a tangible medium storing executable machine readableinstructions comprising: a computer executable display instructionwhich, when executed, causes an image originally provided by a contentprovider to be displayed on a display device; a computer executablemonitoring instruction which, when executed, gathers monitoringinformation concerning display of the image; and a computer executabletransmit instruction which, when executed, causes the monitoringinformation to be transmitted to a remote site which did not supply theimage, wherein the monitoring instruction and the display instructionare embedded in an HTML file such that the monitoring instruction isonly executed when the HTML file is executed to display the image. 114.The article of manufacture of claim 113, wherein the monitoringinformation concerning display of the image includes informationreflecting a user input relating to the image.
 115. The article ofmanufacture of claim 114, wherein the user input comprises a mouseclick.
 116. The article of manufacture of claim 114, wherein the userinput comprises a keyboard input.
 117. The article of manufacture ofclaim 114, wherein the user input is monitored by monitoring eventstransmitted by an operating system.
 118. The article of manufacture ofclaim 113, wherein the monitoring information concerning display of theimage includes information reflecting a user selection relating to theimage.
 119. The article of manufacture of claim 118, wherein the userselection comprises a hyperlink selection.
 120. The article ofmanufacture of claim 118, wherein the user selection comprises selectionof a user interface mechanism.
 121. The article of manufacture of claim118, wherein the user selection comprises selection of a graphicalpushbutton.
 122. The article of manufacture of claim 118, wherein theuser selection is monitored by monitoring events transmitted by anoperating system.
 123. The article of manufacture of claim 118, whereinthe user event is an event transmitted by an operating system.
 124. Thearticle of manufacture of claim 113, wherein the data indicating thatthe image was displayed includes information concerning a user eventrelating to the image.
 125. An article of manufacture comprising atangible medium storing executable machine readable instructionscomprising: a computer executable display instruction which, whenexecuted, causes an image originally provided by a content provider tobe displayed on a display device; a computer executable monitoringinstruction which, when executed, gathers monitoring informationconcerning display of the image; and a computer executable transmitinstruction which, when executed, causes the monitoring information tobe transmitted to a remote site which did not supply the image, whereinthe display instruction is embedded in an HTML file and the monitoringinstruction is referenced by the HTML file such that the monitoringinstruction is only executed when the HTML file is executed to displaythe image.
 126. The article of manufacture of claim 125, wherein themonitoring information concerning display of the image reflects at leastone user input.
 127. The article of manufacture of claim 126, whereinthe user input comprises a mouse click.
 128. The article of manufactureof claim 126, wherein the user input comprises a keyboard input. 129.The article of manufacture of claim 126, wherein the user input ismonitored by monitoring events transmitted by an operating system. 130.The article of manufacture of claim 125, wherein the monitoringinformation concerning display of the image reflects at least one userselection.
 131. The article of manufacture of claim 130, wherein theuser selection comprises a hyperlink selection.
 132. The article ofmanufacture of claim 130, wherein the user selection comprises selectionof a user interface mechanism.
 133. The article of manufacture of claim130, wherein the user selection comprises selection of a graphicalpushbutton.
 134. The article of manufacture of claim 130, wherein theuser selection is monitored by monitoring events transmitted by anoperating system.
 135. The article of manufacture of claim 125, whereinthe monitoring information concerning display of the image reflects atleast one user event.
 136. The article of manufacture of claim 135,wherein the user event is an event transmitted by an operating system.